Translation display apparatus

ABSTRACT

In a translation display apparatus, when an instruction to enlarge and display a part of an image of a translated sentence-added document displayed on a display unit is inputted from a display instruction input section, a partially-enlarged image creating section creates a partially-enlarged image in which a part of the image of a translated sentence-added document is enlarged. Under the control of a control section, an image creating section creates a partial enlargement-added image which is an image obtained by superimposing the partially-enlarged image created by the partially-enlarged image creating section on the image of the translated sentence-added document. Under the control of the control section, the display unit displays the partial enlargement-added image.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application Nos.2010-252332 and 2011-93200, which were filed on Nov. 10, 2010 and onApr. 19, 2011, respectively, contents of which are incorporated hereinby reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE TECHNOLOGY 1. Field of the Technology

The present technology relates to a translation display apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art

There has been known an apparatus that superimposes translated languagecharacter strings, which are obtained by analyzing an original documentimage of a document in a first language and translating sentencesincluded in the original document image into a second language, on theoriginal document image.

For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2007-249482discloses a projector having a translation function of translating acharacter string in a text area selected from an original document imagein a first language into a second language. In the technique disclosedin JP-A 2007-249482, the character string (original character string) inthe text area selected from the original document image is translatedand the translated language character string is displayed on theselected text area or is displayed adjacently to the text area using apop-up dialog.

However, in the technique disclosed in JP-A 2007-249482, since thetranslated language character string only for the original characterstring in the selected text area is displayed, it is not possible tovisually recognize translated language character strings correspondingto all the sentences of the original document image. In the techniquedisclosed in JP-A 2007-249482, since the translated language characterstring is disposed and displayed at a position on the selected text areaor in the vicinity of the selected text area, it is difficult tounderstand the correspondence between the original character string inthe text area and the translated language character string and it cannotbe said to be extremely convenient for comparing and visuallyrecognizing the original character string and the translated languagecharacter string.

A technique of disposing and displaying translated language characterstrings of original sentences included in an original document image ininter-line space close to the sentences is disclosed in JP-A 4-311262(1992) as a technique for solving the above-mentioned problem. In thetechnique disclosed in JP-A 4-311262, a translated language characterstring corresponding to a specific character string (original characterstring) in a document prepared in a first language included in anoriginal document image is disposed and displayed in inter-line spacejust below the original character string. In this way, since atranslated language character string corresponding to an originalcharacter string is disposed and displayed in the inter-line space justbelow the original character string, it is easy to understand thecorrespondence between an original character string and a translatedlanguage character string corresponding to the original character stringand it is convenient for comparing and visually recognizing the originalcharacter string and the translated language character string.

However, in the technique disclosed in JP-A 4-311262, when theinter-line space between the sentences included in an original documentimage is small, the translated language character string disposed anddisplayed in the inter-line space becomes excessively small, therebymaking the visual recognition difficult.

SUMMARY OF THE TECHNOLOGY

Therefore, an object of the technology is to provide a translationdisplay apparatus capable of displaying a translated language characterstring which is obtained by translating a character string in a firstlanguage included in a document image into a second language, in a stateof being disposed in inter-line space just below the first languagecharacter string with excellent convenience for comparing and visuallyrecognizing the original character string and the translated languagecharacter string and with improved visibility of the translated languagecharacter string.

The technology provides a translation display apparatus including:

a document image acquiring section that acquires a document image of adocument containing a sentence composed of a plurality of lines in afirst language;

a character recognizing section that extracts a text area from thedocument image, recognizes first language characters included in theextracted text area, and specifies positions of the first languagecharacters in the document image;

a translated language character string creating section that creates atranslated language character string by translating an originalcharacter string which is a first language character string includingthe first language characters recognized by the character recognizingsection, into a second language;

a translated language character string positioning section that placesthe translated language character string so as to be in a position whichis close to the original character string and in inter-line spacebetween first language character strings in the document image, based onthe positions of the first language characters specified by thecharacter recognizing section;

an image creating section that creates an image of a translatedsentence-added document in which the translated language characterstring is disposed in the document image at the position placed by thetranslated language character string positioning section;

a display section that displays the image of the translatedsentence-added document created by the image creating section;

an enlargement display instruction input section that receives aninstruction to enlarge and display a part of the image of the translatedsentence-added document displayed on the display section;

a partially-enlarged image creating section that creates apartially-enlarged image in which a part of the image of the translatedsentence-added document is enlarged on the basis of the instructioninputted from the enlargement display instruction input section; and

a control section that controls the image creating section and thedisplay section, the control section controlling the image creatingsection to create a partial enlargement-added image which is an imageobtained by superimposing the partially-enlarged image on the image ofthe translated sentence-added document, and controlling the displaysection to display the partial enlargement-added image when theinstruction of enlargement display is inputted from the enlargementdisplay instruction input section.

The translation display apparatus includes the document image acquiringsection, the character recognizing section, the translated languagecharacter string creating section, the translated language characterstring positioning section, the image creating section, the displaysection, the enlargement display instruction input section, thepartially-enlarged image creating section, and the control sectioncontrolling the image creating section and the display section. Thedocument image acquiring section acquires a document image of a documentcontaining a sentence composed of a plurality of lines in a firstlanguage. The character recognizing section extracts a text area fromthe document image acquired by the document image acquiring section,recognizes first language characters included in the extracted textarea, and specifies the position of the first language characters in thedocument image. The translated language character string creatingsection creates a translated language character string by translating anoriginal character string which is a first language character includingthe first language characters recognized by the character recognizingsection, into a second language. The translated language characterstring positioning section places the translated language characterstring so as to be in a position which is close to the originalcharacter string and in inter-line space between first languagecharacter strings in the document image, based on the positions of thefirst language characters specified by the character recognizingsection. The image creating section creates an image of a translatedsentence-added document in which the translated language characterstring is disposed in the document image at the position placed by thetranslated language character string positioning section. The displaysection displays the image of the translated sentence-added documentcreated by the image creating section. In this way, since the image ofthe translated sentence-added document in which translated languagecharacter string is disposed in the document image at the position whichis close to the original character string and in the inter-line spacebetween first language character strings is displayed on the displaysection, it is easy to understand the correspondence between theoriginal character string of the first language and the translatedlanguage character string corresponding to the original character stringand it is convenient for comparing and visually recognizing the originalcharacter string of the first language and the translated languagecharacter string of the second language.

Further, in the translation display apparatus, when an instruction toenlarge and display a part of the image of the translated sentence-addeddocument displayed on the display section is inputted from theenlargement display instruction input section, the partially-enlargedimage creating section creates a partially-enlarged image in which apart of the image of a translated sentence-added document is enlarged.Under the control of the control section, the image creating sectioncreates a partial enlargement-added image which is an image obtained bysuperimposing the partially-enlarged image created by thepartially-enlarged image creating section on the image of the translatedsentence-added document. Under the control of the control section, thedisplay section displays the partial enlargement-added image. In thisway, since the partial enlargement-added image in which a part of theimage of the translated sentence-added document is enlarged is displayedon the display section on the basis of the instruction inputted from theenlargement display instruction input section, it is possible to improvethe visibility of a desired part of the image of the translatedsentence-added document.

Further, it is preferable that the partially-enlargement image creatingsection creates the partially-enlarged image so that an enlargementfactor of an inter-line part in the image of the translatedsentence-added document is greater than an enlargement factor of theother part thereof.

The partially-enlarged image creating section creates thepartially-enlarged image so that the enlargement factor of theinter-line part in the image of the translated sentence-added documentis greater than the enlargement factor of the other part thereof.Accordingly, since the partial enlargement-added image in which theinter-line part in the image of the translated sentence-added documentis enlarged with a greater enlargement factor on the basis of theinstruction inputted from the enlargement display instruction inputsection is displayed on the display section, it is possible to enlargeand display the translated language character string disposed in theinter-line space between first language character strings to a greaterextent.

Further, it is preferable that the partially-enlarged image creatingsection creates the partially-enlarged image by adding the originalcharacter string to the position in the inter-line space between firstlanguage character strings in the image of the translated sentence-addeddocument in an editable state, and the control section controls theimage creating section to create the partial enlargement-added image bysuperimposing the partially-enlarged image, to which the originalcharacter string is added in an editable state, on the image of thetranslated sentence-added document and controls the display section todisplay the partial enlargement-added image.

The partially-enlarged image creating section creates thepartially-enlarged image by adding the original character string to theposition in the inter-line space between first language characterstrings in the image of the translated sentence-added document in aneditable state. Accordingly, since the partial enlargement-added imagein which the original character string is added to the position in theinter-line space between first language character strings in the imageof the translated sentence-added document is displayed on the displaysection, it is possible to compare and visually recognize the documentimage in the first language and the translated language character stringof the second language in the translated sentence-added document and theoriginal character string of the first language recognized by thecharacter recognizing section. As a result, it is possible to visuallyrecognize whether the original character string of the first language isthe character string obtained by causing the character recognizingsection to correctly recognize the document image.

Further, it is preferable that the translation display apparatusincludes a correction instruction input section that receives aninstruction to correct the original character string which is added tothe partially-enlarged image in an editable state,

the translated language character string creating section creating a newtranslated language character string by translating the originalcharacter string corrected based on the instruction inputted from thecorrection instruction input section into the second language,

the partially-enlarged image creating section creating apartially-enlarged image in which the new translated language characterstring is disposed, and

the control section controlling the image creating section to create apartial enlargement-added image by superimposing the partially-enlargedimage having the new translated language character string disposedtherein on the image of the translated sentence-added document, andcontrolling the display section to display the partial enlargement-addedimage.

The translation display apparatus further includes the correctioninstruction input section. The correction instruction input sectionreceives an instruction to correct the original character string addedto the partially-enlarged image in an editable state. The translatedlanguage character string creating section creates the new translatedlanguage character string by translating the original character stringcorrected on the basis of the instruction inputted from the correctioninstruction input section into the second language. Thepartially-enlarged image creating section creates the partially-enlargedimage having the new translated language character string disposedtherein. Accordingly, since the partially-enlarged image having the newtranslated language character string corresponding to the correctedoriginal character string disposed therein is displayed on the displaysection, it is possible to visually recognize the new translatedlanguage character string into which the original character string iscorrectly translated.

The technology provides a translation display apparatus including:

a document image acquiring section that acquires a document image of adocument containing a sentence composed of a plurality of lines in afirst language;

a character recognizing section that extracts a text area from thedocument image, recognizes first language characters included in theextracted text area, and specifies positions of the first languagecharacters in the document image;

a translated language character string creating section that creates atranslated language character string by translating an originalcharacter string which is a first language character string includingthe first language characters recognized by the character recognizingsection, into a second language;

a translated language character string positioning section that placesthe translated language character string so as to be in a position whichis close to the original character string and in inter-line spacebetween first language character strings in the document image, based onthe positions of the first language characters specified by thecharacter recognizing section;

an image creating section that creates an image of a translatedsentence-added document in which the translated language characterstring is disposed in the document image at the position placed by thetranslated language character string positioning section;

a storage section that stores an image of a translated sentence-addeddocument every time the image creating section creates an image of atranslated sentence-added document;

a translated language character string changing area extracting sectionthat compares an image of a translated sentence-added document laststored in the storage section with an image of a translatedsentence-added document stored previously thereto and extracts atranslated language character string changing area indicating an area inwhich the translated language character string is different from theimage of a translated sentence-added document last stored;

an emphasized translated language character string creating section thatcreates an emphasized translated language character string byrecognizing a translated language character string included in thetranslated language character string changing area extracted by thetranslated language character string changing area extracting sectionand emphasizing the recognized translated language character string; and

a display section that displays an image in which the emphasizedtranslate character string is superimposed on the translated languagecharacter string changing area of the image of a translatedsentence-added document last stored.

The translation display apparatus includes the document image acquiringsection, the character recognizing section, the translated languagecharacter string creating section, the translated language characterstring positioning section, the image creating section, the storagesection, the translated language character string changing areaextracting section, the emphasized translated language character stringcreating section, and the display section. The document image acquiringsection acquires a document image of a document containing a sentencecomposed of a plurality of lines in a first language. The characterrecognizing section extracts a text area from the document imageacquired by the document image acquiring section, recognizes firstlanguage characters included in the extracted text area, and specifiesthe position of the first language characters in the document image. Thetranslated language character string creating section creates atranslated language character string by translating an originalcharacter string which is a first language character string includingthe first language characters recognized by the character recognizingsection, into a second language. The translated language characterstring positioning section places the translated language characterstring so as to be in a position which is close to the originalcharacter string and in inter-line space between first languagecharacter strings in the document image, based on the position of thefirst language characters specified by the character recognizingsection. The image creating section creates an image of a translatedsentence-added document in which the translated language characterstring is disposed in the document image at the position placed by thetranslated language character string positioning section.

In this way, in the translation display apparatus, since the image ofthe translated sentence-added document in which the translated languagecharacter string is disposed in the document image at the position whichis close to the original character string and in the inter-line spacebetween first language character strings is created, it is easy tounderstand the correspondence between the original character string ofthe first language and the translated language character stringcorresponding to the original character string and it is convenient forcomparing and visually recognizing the original character string of thefirst language and the translated language character string of thesecond language.

Further in the translation display apparatus, the storage section storesthe image of the translated sentence-added document every time the imagecreating section creates an image of a translated sentence-addeddocument. The translated language character string changing areaextracting section compares an image of a translated sentence-addeddocument last stored in the storage section with an image of atranslated sentence-added document stored previously thereto andextracts the translated language character string changing areaindicating an area in which the translated language character string isdifferent from the image of a translated sentence-added document laststored. The emphasized translated language character string creatingsection creates an emphasized translated language character string byrecognizing the translated language character string included in thetranslated language character string changing area extracted by thetranslated language character string changing area extracting sectionand emphasizing the recognized translated language character string. Thedisplay section displays an image in which the emphasized translatedlanguage character string is superimposed on the translated languagecharacter string changing area of the image of the translatedsentence-added document last stored.

In this way, in the translation display apparatus, since the image inwhich the translated language character string included in thetranslated language character string changing area in the image of thenewest translated sentence-added document last stored is emphasised isdisplayed on the display section, it is possible to improve thevisibility of the translated language character string in the image ofthe translated sentence-added document which is different from theprevious state.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other and further objects, features, and advantages of the technologywill be more explicit from the following detailed description taken withreference to the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of atranslation display apparatus according to an embodiment;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are flowcharts illustrating a procedure of processesperformed by the translation display apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of atranslation display apparatus according to another embodiment; and

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of processes performed bythe translation display apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of atranslation display apparatus 100 according to an embodiment. Thetranslation display apparatus 100 includes a display unit 1 as thedisplay section, a display detail storing section 2, an image creatingsection 3, a presentation execution section 4, an instruction inputmanaging section 5, an instruction input unit 6, a controller 7, adocument image acquiring section 8, a character recognizing section 9, atranslated language character string creating section 10, a translatedlanguage character string positioning section 11, and apartially-enlarged image creating section 12.

The translation display apparatus 100 is constructed by ageneral-purpose computer such as a personal computer, and is a devicethat disposes a translated language character string in a secondlanguage (for example, Japanese) into which a character string in afirst language (for example, English) included in a document image istranslated in inter-line space just below the first language characterstring and displays the resultant in a window screen when an applicationprogram is executed using a window display function which is a basicfunction of an CS of the personal computer. The document image includesdocument data prepared by a CAD (Computer Aided Design), a variety ofword processor software, or the like and includes a plurality of pageswhich are arranged in a predetermined order. The translation displayapparatus 100 according to this embodiment displays an image in whichtranslated language character strings are arranged in inter-line spacebetween first language character strings in real time, every time aninstruction to output a page of a document image including a pluralityof pages is inputted from the instruction input unit 6 and the documentimage displayed on the display unit 1 is changed. The translationdisplay apparatus 100 according to this embodiment is used when anoperator of the apparatus gives a presentation to the audience whilewatching a document image displayed by the display unit 1, and the like.

The display unit 1 is an element for displaying a variety of informationand is embodied by a liquid crystal display or the like. The displaydetail storing section 2 is an element for temporarily storinginformation such as an image displayed by the display unit 1 and isembodied, for example, by a RAM (Random Access Memory).

The instruction input unit 6 serves as an enlargement displayinstruction input section and a correction instruction input section andis embodied by a keyboard, a mouse, and the like to which informationsuch as a variety of processing instructions is inputted by anoperator's operation. The instruction input managing section 5 acquiresan instruction signal indicating a processing instruction inputted fromthe instruction input unit 6 and sends the instruction signal to thepresentation execution section 4 and the partially-enlarged imagecreating section 12.

FIGS. 2A and 25 are flowcharts illustrating the flow of processesperformed by the translation display apparatus 100. In the translationdisplay apparatus 100, an instruction signal indicating a processinginstruction of document image display inputted from the instructioninput unit 6 is acquired by the instruction input managing section 5 andthe acquired instruction signal is sent to the presentation executionsection 4. The presentation execution section 4 having received theinstruction signal of document image display acquires data of thedocument image including a plurality of pages from a storage unit notshown and sends the acquired data of the document image to the imagecreating section 3. The image creating section 3 sends the received dataof the document image to the display detail storing section 2 and thedisplay detail storing section 2 temporarily stores the data of thedocument image. In the translation display apparatus 100, when thedisplay unit 1 extracts the data of the document image from the displaydetail storing section 2 and displays the document image, a translationdisplay process is started.

In step s1, the document image acquiring section 8 acquires the data ofthe document image from the display detail storing section 2.

In step s2, the character recognizing section 9 extracts a text areaincluding characters from the data of the document image acquired by thedocument image acquiring section 8. Specifically, the characterrecognizing section 9 performs a segmentation process. For example, thecharacter recognizing section 9 classifies the document image into atext area, a photograph area, a halftone dot area, a background area,and the like on the basis of an edge detection result and extracts thetext area as the segmentation result. The character recognizing section9 performs a process of recognizing characters in a first languageincluded in the extracted text area. The character recognizing section 9recognizes the first language characters included in the text area andspecifies the position of the first language characters in the documentimage, for example, by the use of an OCR (Optical Character Recognition)technique according to the related art. The position of each characteris expressed by an X coordinate of the left end of the character in thedocument image, a Y coordinate of the upper end, an X coordinate of theright end, and a Y coordinate of the lower end. The characterrecognizing section 9 recognizes a space between the Y coordinate of thelower end of a character in a line and the Y coordinate of the upper endof a character in a next line as inter-line space.

In step s3, the translated language character string creating section 10creates a translated language character string by translating anoriginal character string which is a first language character stringincluding the first language characters recognized by the characterrecognizing section 9 into the second language, The translated languagecharacter string creating section 10 acquires translated wordscorresponding to the original character string from a dictionarydatabase (not shown) and creates the translated language characterstring.

In step s4, the translated language character string positioning section11 places the translated language character string created by thetranslated language character string creating section 10 so as to be ina position which is close to the original character string and in theinter-line space between first language character strings in thedocument image, based on the positions of the first language charactersspecified by the character recognizing section 9.

In step s5, the image creating section 3 creates an image of atranslated sentence-added document in which the translated languagecharacter string is disposed in the document image at the positioncorresponding to the position placed by the translated languagecharacter string positioning section 11. The created image of thetranslated sentence-added document is temporarily stored in the displaydetail storing section 2.

In step s6, the display unit 1 extracts and displays the image of thetranslated sentence-added document from the display detail storingsection 2. In this way, in the translation display apparatus 100according to this embodiment, since the image of the translatedsentence-added document in which the translated language characterstring is disposed in the document image at the position which is closeto the original character string and in the inter-line space betweenfirst language character strings is displayed on the display unit 1, itis easy to understand the correspondence between the original characterstring of the first language and the translated language characterstring corresponding to the original character string and it isconvenient for comparing and visually recognizing the original characterstring of the first language and the translated language characterstring of the second language.

In step s7, the instruction input managing section 5 determines whetheran enlargement display instruction is inputted from the instructioninput unit 6. The procedure goes to step s10 when the instructioninput-managing section 5 determines that the enlargement displayinstruction is inputted, and the procedure goes to step s8 when theinstruction input managing section 5 determines that the enlargementdisplay instruction is not inputted.

In step s8, the instruction input managing section 5 determines whetherit is time to update a display image. The instruction input managingsection 5 checks the display image displayed on the display unit 1 everypredetermined time and determines the timing to update the display imagedepending on whether the display image is changed. For example, theinstruction input managing section 5 determines that it is time toupdate the display image when an instruction to output a page of thedocument image and the like is inputted from the instruction input unit6 and the document image displayed on the display unit 1 is changed. Theprocedure goes to step s9 when the instruction input managing section 5determines that it is time to update the display image, and theprocedure returns to step s7 when the instruction input managing section5 determines that it is not time to update the display image. In steps9, the display detail storing section 2 erases the image of thetranslated sentence-added document, and the procedure returns to steps1.

When it is determined in step s7 that the enlargement displayinstruction is inputted, the partially-enlarged image creating section12 detects the position (enlargement display position) pointed by theinstruction input unit (mouse) 6 in the image of the translatedsentence-added document displayed on the display unit 1 and acquires apredetermined area (enlargement display area) around the pointedposition in step s10.

In step s11, the partially-enlarged image creating section 12 creates apartially-enlarged image in which the enlargement factor of a partcorresponding to the inter-line space in the enlargement display area israised in the image of the translated sentence-added document.Specifically, the partially-enlarged image creating section 12classifies the image of the translated sentence-added document in theenlargement display area into a text area and an inter-line area. Thepartially-enlarged image creating section 12 raises the enlargementfactor of the part corresponding to the inter-line space in theenlargement display area by setting “n<m”, where “n” represents theenlargement factor of the text area and “m” represents the enlargementfactor of the inter-line space in a direction perpendicular to thearrangement direction of characters. The partially-enlarged imagecreated by the partially-enlarged image creating section 12 has, forexample, a format using a pop-up dialog.

In step s12, the partially-enlarged image creating section 12 createsthe partially-enlarged image by adding the original character string(the recognized character string) recognized by the characterrecognizing section 9 to the position corresponding to the inter-linespace in the image of the translated sentence-added document in aneditable state.

In step s13, the image creating section 3 creates a partialenlargement-added image, which is an image in which thepartially-enlarged image created by the partially-enlarged imagecreating section 12 is superimposed on the image of the translatedsentence-added document, under the control of the controller 7. Thepartial enlargement-added image created in this way is temporarilystored in the display detail storing section 2.

In step s14, the display unit 1 extracts and displays the partialenlargement-added image from the display detail storing section 2.

As described above, in the translation display apparatus 100 accordingto this embodiment, since the partial enlargement-added image in which apart of the image of the translated sentence-added document is enlargedis displayed on the display unit 1 on the basis of the instructioninputted from the instruction input unit 6, it is possible to improvethe visibility of a desired part in the image of the translatedsentence-added document.

Further, in the translation display apparatus 100 according to thisembodiment, the partially-enlarged image creating section 12 creates thepartially-enlarged image that the enlargement factor of the partcorresponding to the inter-line space in the image of the translatedsentence-added document is greater than the enlargement factor of theother part thereof. Accordingly, in the translation display apparatus100, since the partial enlargement-added image in which the partcorresponding to the inter-line space in the image of the translatedsentence-added document is greatly enlarged is displayed on the displayunit 1, it is possible to more greatly enlarge and display thetranslated language character string disposed in the inter-line space.

Further, in the translation display apparatus 100 according to thisembodiment, the partially-enlarged image creating section 12 creates thepartially-enlarged image by adding the original character string to theposition corresponding to the inter-line space in the image of thetranslated sentence-added document in an editable state. Accordingly, inthe translation display apparatus 100, since the partialenlargement-added image in which the original character string is addedto the position corresponding to the inter-line space in the image ofthe translated sentence-added document is displayed on the display unit1, it is possible to compare and visually recognize the document imagein the first language and the translated language character string ofthe second language in the translated sentence-added document and theoriginal character string of the first language recognized by thecharacter recognizing section 9. Accordingly, it is possible to visuallyrecognize whether the original character string of the first language isthe character string obtained by causing the character recognizingsection 9 to correctly recognize the document image.

In step s15, the instruction input managing section 5 determines whetheran instruction to erase the partially-enlarged image in the partialenlargement-added image displayed on the display unit 1 is inputted fromthe instruction input unit 6. The procedure goes to step s16 when theinstruction input managing section 5 determines that the instruction toerase the partially-enlarged image is inputted, and the procedure goesto step s17 when the instruction input managing section determines thatthe instruction to erase the partially-enlarged image is not inputted.

In step s16, the image creating section 3 creates an image in which thepartially-enlarged image in the partial enlargement-added image iserased, that is, an image of the translated sentence-added documentbefore the partially-enlarged image is superimposed thereon.Accordingly, the image of the translated sentence-added document inwhich the partially-enlarged image is erased is displayed on the displayunit 1. In this way, when the image of the translated sentence-addeddocument in which the partially-enlarged image is erased is completelydisplayed, the procedure returns to step s7.

In step S17, the instruction input managing section 5 determines whetheran instruction to correct the original character string (the recognizedcharacter string) added in an editable state in the partially-enlargedimage of the partial enlargement-added image is inputted from theinstruction input unit 6. The instruction input managing section 5determines whether the correction instruction is inputted depending onwhether the part corresponding to the original character string added inan editable state is pointed by the instruction input unit (mouse) 6 inthe partial enlargement-added image displayed on the display unit 1. Thecorrection of the original character string is performed by theinstruction input unit 6. The original character string becomes aneditable window when it is pointed by the instruction input unit 6, andcan be edited and corrected through the operation of the mouse or thekeyboard. When an end button is pressed through the instruction inputunit 6 (or is double clicked through the mouse), the editing andcorrecting operation is finished. The procedure goes to step s18 whenthe instruction input managing section 5 determines that the correctioninstruction is inputted, and the procedure goes to step s19 when theinstruction input managing section 5 determines that the correctioninstruction is not inputted.

In step s18, first, the translated language character string creatingsection 10 creates a new translated language character string bytranslating the original character string corrected on the basis of theinstruction inputted from the instruction input unit 6 into the secondlanguage. Then, the partially-enlarged image creating section 12 createsa partially-enlarged image having the new translated language characterstring disposed therein. Under the control of the controller 7, theimage creating section 3 creates a partial enlargement-added image bysuperimposing the partially-enlarged image having the new translatedlanguage character string disposed therein on the image of thetranslated sentence-added document, and the display unit 1 displays thenewly-created partial enlargement-added image. In this way, when thenewly-created partial enlargement-added image is completely displayed,the procedure returns to step s15.

In step s19, the instruction input managing section 5 determines whetherit is time to update the display image. The procedure goes to step s20when the instruction input managing section 5 determines that it is timeto update the display image, and the procedure returns to step s15 whenthe instruction input managing section 5 determines that it is not timeto update the display image. In step s20, the image creating section 3creates an image in which the partially-enlarged image in the partialenlargement-added image is erased, that is, an image of the translatedsentence-added document before the partially-enlarged image issuperimposed thereon. Accordingly, the image of the translatedsentence-added document in which the partially-enlarged image is erasedis displayed on the display unit 1. In this way, when the image of thetranslated sentence-added document in which the partially-enlarged imageis erased is completely displayed, the procedure returns to step s9.

As described above, in the translation display apparatus 100 accordingto this embodiment, since the partially-enlarged image in which the newtranslated language character string corresponding to the correctedoriginal character string is displayed on the display unit 1, it ispossible to visually recognize the correctly-translated, new translatedlanguage character string.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of atranslation display apparatus 200 according to another embodiment. Thetranslation display apparatus 200 includes a display unit 21 as thedisplay section, a display detail storing section 22, an image creatingsection 23, a presentation execution section 24, an instruction inputmanaging section 25, an instruction input unit 26, a controller 27 forcontrolling the display unit 21 and the image creating section 23, adocument image acquiring section 28, a character recognizing section 29,a translated language character string creating section 30, a translatedlanguage character string positioning section 31, a translatedsentence-added document image storing section 32, a translated languagecharacter string changing area extracting section 33, an emphasizedtranslated language character string creating section 34, and a timer35.

Similarly to the above-mentioned translation display apparatus 100, thetranslation display apparatus 200 is an apparatus that translates acharacter string in a first language (for example, English) included ina document image into a second language (for example, Japanese) anddisposes and displays the translated language character string ininter-line space lust below the first language character string.

The document image includes document data prepared by a CAD, a varietyof word processor software, or the like and includes a plurality ofpages which are arranged in a predetermined order. The translationdisplay apparatus 200 according to this embodiment displays an image inwhich translated language character strings are arranged in inter-linespace between first language character strings in real time, every timean instruction to output a page of a document image including aplurality of pages is inputted from the instruction input unit 26 andthe document image displayed on the display unit 21 is changed.

The display unit 21 is a unit for displaying a variety of informationand is embodied by a liquid crystal display or the like. The displaydetail storing section 22 is a unit for temporarily storing informationsuch as an image displayed by the display unit 21 and is embodied, forexample, by a RAM.

The instruction input unit 26 is embodied by a keyboard, a mouse, andthe like to which information such as a variety of processinginstructions is inputted by an operator's operation. The instructioninput managing section 25 acquires an instruction signal indicating aprocessing instruction inputted from the instruction input unit 26 andsends the instruction signal to the presentation execution section 24.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of processes performed bythe translation display apparatus 200. In the translation displayapparatus 200, an instruction signal indicating a processing instructionof document image display inputted from the instruction input unit 26 isacquired by the instruction input managing section 25 and the acquiredinstruction signal is sent to the presentation execution section 24. Thepresentation execution section 24 having received the instruction signalof document image display sends data of the document image including aplurality of pages to the image creating section 23. The image creatingsection 23 sends the received data of the document image to the displaydetail storing section 22 and the display detail storing section 22temporarily stores the data of the document image. In the translationdisplay apparatus 200, when the display detail storing section 22temporarily stores the data of the document image, a translation displayprocess is started.

In step a1, the document image acquiring section 28 acquires the data ofthe document image from the display detail storing section 22.

In step a2, the character recognizing section 29 extracts a text areaincluding characters from the data of the document image acquired by thedocument image acquiring section 28. Specifically, the characterrecognizing section 29 performs a segmentation process. For example, thecharacter recognizing section 29 classifies the document image into atext area, a photograph area, a halftone dot area, a background area,and the like on the basis of an edge detection result and extracts thetext area as the segmentation result. The character recognizing section29 performs a process of recognizing characters in a first languageincluded in the extracted text area.

The character recognizing section 29 recognizes the first languagecharacters included in the text area and specifies the position of thefirst language characters in the document image, for example, by the useof an OCR technique according to the related art. The position of eachcharacter is expressed by an X coordinate of the left end of thecharacter in the document image, a Y coordinate of the upper end, an Xcoordinate of the right end, and a Y coordinate of the lower end. Thecharacter recognizing section 29 recognizes a space between the Ycoordinate of the lower end of a character in a line and the Ycoordinate of the upper end of a character in a next line as inter-linespace.

In step a3, the translated language character string creating section 30creates a translated language character string by translating theoriginal character string which is a first language character stringincluding the first language characters recognized by the characterrecognizing section 29 into the second language. The translated languagecharacter string creating section 30 acquires translated wordscorresponding to the original character string from a dictionarydatabase and creates the translated language character string.

In step a4, the translated language character string positioning section31 places the translated language character string created by thetranslated language character string creating section 30 so as to be ina position which is close to the original character string and in theinter-line space between first language character strings in thedocument image, based on the positions of the first language charactersspecified by the character recognizing section 29.

In step a5, the image creating section 23 creates an image of atranslated sentence-added document in which the translated languagecharacter string is disposed in the document image at the positioncorresponding to the position placed by the translated languagecharacter string positioning section 31.

In step a6, the translated sentence-added document image storing section32 as the storage section stores an image of a translated sentence-addeddocument every time the image creating section 23 creates the image ofthe translated sentence-added document. In the translation displayapparatus 200, every time an instruction to output a page of a documentimage including a plurality of pages or the like is inputted from theinstruction input unit 26, the image creating section 23 creates animage of the translated sentence-added document, but the translatedsentence-added document image storing section 32 stores the imagesindicating the translated sentence-added document in the order orcreation.

In, step a7, the translated language character string changing areaextracting section 33 extracts an image (hereinafter, referred to as“image of the newest translated sentence-added document”) indicating thenewest translated sentence-added document last stored and an image(hereinafter, referred to as “image of the previous translatedsentence-added document”) indicating any translated sentence-addeddocument stored previously thereto from the translated sentence-addeddocument image storing section 32, and compares the translated languagecharacter strings included in the images to each other. The image of theprevious translated sentence-added document extracted by the translatedlanguage character string changing area extracting section 33 may be animage immediately previous to the newest image or an image storedearlier than that in the translated sentence-added document imagestoring section 32.

The translated language character string changing area extractingsection 33 compares the image of the newest translated sentence-addeddocument and the image of the previous translated sentence-addeddocument extracted from the translated sentence-added document imagestoring section 32 and extracts a translated language character stringchanging area indicating an area in which the translated languagecharacter string is different from the image of the newest translatedsentence-added document.

For example, when a partial translated language character string isdifferent between the image of the newest translated sentence-addeddocument and the image of the previous translated sentence-addeddocument, the translated language character string changing areaextracting section 33 extracts the changed partial area as a translatedlanguage character string changing area. When the overall translatedlanguage character strings are different between the image of the newesttranslated sentence-added document and the image of the previoustranslated sentence-added document, the translated language characterstring changing area extracting section 33 extracts the changed overallarea as the translated language character string changing area.

When only one image of a translated sentence-added document is stored inthe translated sentence-added document image storing section 32, thetranslated language character string changing area extracting section 33extracts only the image of the translated sentence-added document fromthe translated sentence-added document image storing section 32 andextracts the overall translated language character strings included inthe extracted image of the translated sentence-added document as thetranslated language character string changing area.

In step a8, the emphasized translated language character string creatingsection 34 creates an emphasized translated language character string byrecognizing the translated language character string included in thetranslated language character string changing area extracted by thetranslated language character string changing area extracting section 33and performing a process of emphasizing the recognized translatedlanguage character string.

In comparison with the translated language character strings outside thetranslated language character string changing area, the emphasizedtranslated language character string creating section 34 creates theemphasized translated language character string by performing anemphasizing process such as enlarging the size of characters, changingthe font of characters, or changing the color of characters on thetranslated language character string in the translated languagecharacter string changing area.

When the emphasized translated language character string is created byenlarging the size of characters of the translated language characterstring in the translated language character string changing area, theemphasized translated language character string creating section 34creates the emphasized translated language character string by raisingthe enlargement factor of the part corresponding to the inter-line spacein the translated language character string changing area in the imageof the newest translated sentence-added document. When the emphasizedtranslated language character string is created by changing the font ofcharacters of the translated language character string in the translatedlanguage character string changing area or by changing the color of thecharacters, the emphasized translated language character string creatingsection 34 creates the emphasized translated language character stringby changing the translated language character string in the translatedlanguage character string changing area in the image of the newesttranslated sentence-added document into the predetermined font or colorother than that of the translated language character strings outside thetranslated language character string changing area.

In step a9, the image creating section 23 creates, under the control ofthe controller 27, an emphasized translated language character imagewhich is an image in which the emphasized translated language characterstring created by the emphasized translated language character stringcreating section 34 is superimposed on the translated language characterstring changing area of the image of the newest translatedsentence-added document. The emphasized translated language characterimage created by the image creating section 23 is an image in which theemphasized translated language character string is superimposed on abackground having the same color as the underlying color such that thetranslated language character strings in the translated languagecharacter string changing area disposed below the emphasized translatedlanguage character string is not visually recognized.

When an image in which the emphasized translated language characterstring with an enlarged size of characters is superimposed is created, asuperimposing area of the enlarged emphasized translated languagecharacter string is secured in the right and left sides outside thetranslated language character string changing area in the image of thetranslated sentence-added document, for example, so as to insert theenlarged emphasized translated language character string, by reducingthe character spacing of the translated language character string,moving the entire translated language character string to the right orleft side, or the like.

The emphasized translated language character image created in this wayis temporarily stored in the display detail storing section 22. Underthe control of the controller 27, the display unit 21 extracts theemphasized translated language character image from the display detailstoring section 22 and displays the extracted image.

In the translation display apparatus 200 according to this embodiment,the timer 35 counts the time after the emphasized translated languagecharacter image is displayed on the display unit 21. When apredetermined. time passes after the emphasized translated languagecharacter image is displayed on the display unit 21, the image creatingsection 23 creates an image in which the emphasized translated languagecharacter string in the emphasized translated language character imageis erased, that is, the image of the newest translated sentence-addeddocument before the emphasized translated language character string issuperimposed. Accordingly, the image of the translated sentence-addeddocument in which the emphasized translated language character string iserased is displayed on the display unit 21.

The translation display apparatus 200 may be configured to create theimage in which the emphasized translated language character string iserased from the emphasized translated language character image on thebasis of an instruction inputted from the instruction input unit 26. Inthis case, the instruction input managing section 25 determines whetheran instruction to erase the emphasized translated language characterstring in the emphasized translated language character image displayedon the display unit 21 is inputted from the instruction input unit 26.When the instruction input managing section 25 determines that theinstruction to erase the emphasized translated language character stringis inputted, the image creating section 23 creates the image in whichthe emphasized translated language character string in the emphasizedtranslated language character image is erased, whereby the image of thetranslated sentence-added document in which the emphasized translatedlanguage character string is erased is displayed on the display unit 21.

In step a10, the instruction input managing section 25 determineswhether it is time to update a display image. The instruction inputmanaging section 25 checks the display image displayed on the displayunit 21 every predetermined time and determines the timing to update thedisplay image depending on whether the display image is changed. Forexample, the instruction input managing section 25 determines that it istime to update the display image when an instruction to output a page ofthe document image and the like is inputted from the instruction inputunit 26 and the document image displayed on the display unit 21 ischanged. The procedure goes to step a11 when the instruction inputmanaging section 25 determines that it is time to update the displayimage, and the process of step a10 is repeated when the instructioninput managing section 25 determines that it is not time to update thedisplay image. In step a11, the display detail storing section 22 erasesthe emphasized translated language character image, and the procedurereturns to step a1.

As described above, in the translation display apparatus 200 accordingto this embodiment, since the image of the translated sentence-addeddocument in which the translated language character string is disposedat the position which is close to the original character string and inthe inter-line between the first language character strings in thedocument image is created, it is easy to understand the correspondencebetween the original character string of the first language and thetranslated language character string corresponding to the originalcharacter string and it is convenient for comparing and visuallyrecognizing the original character string of the first language and thetranslated language character string of the second language.

In the translation display apparatus 200 according to this embodiment,since the image (the emphasized translated language character image) inwhich the translated language character string included in thetranslated language character string changing area in the image of thenewest translated sentence-added document is emphasized is displayed onthe display unit 21, it is possible to improve the visibility of thechanged translated language character string in the image of thetranslated sentence-added document.

The technology may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The presentembodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects asillustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the technology beingindicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoingdescription and all changes which come within the meaning and the rangeof equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embracedtherein.

1. A translation display apparatus comprising: a document imageacquiring section that acquires a document image of a documentcontaining a sentence composed of a plurality of lines in a firstlanguage; a character recognizing section that extracts a text area fromthe document image, recognizes first language characters included in theextracted text area, and specifies positions of the first languagecharacters in the document image; a translated language character stringcreating section that creates a translated language character string bytranslating an original character string which is a first languagecharacter string including the first language characters recognized bythe character recognizing section, into a second language; a translatedlanguage character string positioning section that places the translatedlanguage character string so as to be in a position which is close tothe original character string and in interline space between firstlanguage character strings in the document image, based on the positionsof the first language characters specified by the character recognizingsection; an image creating section that creates an image of a translatedsentence-added document in which the translated language characterstring is disposed in the document image at the position placed by thetranslated language character string positioning section; a displaysection that displays the image of the translated sentence-addeddocument created by the image creating section; an enlargement displayinstruction input section that receives an instruction to enlarge anddisplay a part of the image of the translated sentence-added documentdisplayed on the display section; a partially-enlarged image creatingsection that creates a partially-enlarged image in which a part of theimage of the translated sentence-added document is enlarged on the basisof the instruction inputted from the enlargement display instructioninput section; and a control section that controls the image creatingsection and the display section, the control section controlling theimage creating section to create a partial enlargement-added image whichis an image obtained by superimposing the partially-enlarged image onthe image of the translated sentence-added document, and controlling thedisplay section to display the partial enlargement added image when theinstruction of enlargement display is inputted from the enlargementdisplay instruction input section.
 2. The translation display apparatusof claim 1, wherein the partially-enlargement image creating sectioncreates the partially-enlarged image so that an enlargement factor of aninter-line part in the image of the translated sentence-added documentis greater than an enlargement factor of the other part thereof.
 3. Thetranslation display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the partially-enlargedimage creating section creates the partially-enlarged image by addingthe original character string to the position in the inter-line spacebetween first language character strings in the image of the translatedsentence-added document in an editable state, and the control sectioncontrols the image creating section to create the partialenlargement-added image by superimposing the partially-enlarged image,to which the original character string is added in an editable state, onthe image of the translated sentence-added document and controls thedisplay section to display the partial enlargement-added image.
 4. Thetranslation display apparatus of claim 3, further comprising acorrection instruction input section that receives an instruction tocorrect the original character string which is added to thepartially-enlarged image in an editable state, the translated languagecharacter string creating section creating a new translated languagecharacter string by translating the original character string correctedbased on the instruction inputted from the correction instruction inputsection into the second language, the partially-enlarged image creatingsection creating a partially-enlarged image in which the new translatedlanguage character string is disposed, and the control sectioncontrolling the image creating section to create a partialenlargement-added image by superimposing the partially-enlarged imagehaving the new translated language character string disposed therein onthe image of the translated sentence-added document, and controlling thedisplay section to display the partial enlargement-added image.
 5. Atranslation display apparatus comprising: a document image acquiringsection that acquires a document image of a document containing asentence composed of a plurality of lines in a first language; acharacter recognizing section that extracts a text area from thedocument image, recognizes first language characters included in theextracted text area, and specifies positions of the first languagecharacters in the document image; a translated language character stringcreating section that creates a translated language character string bytranslating an original character string which is a first languagecharacter string including the first language characters recognized bythe character recognizing section, into a second language; a translatedlanguage character string positioning section that places the translatedlanguage character string so as to he in a position which is close tothe original character string and in inter-line space between firstlanguage character strings in the document image, based on the positionsof the first language characters specified by the character recognizingsection; an image creating section that creates an image of a translatedsentence-added document in which the translated language characterstring is disposed in the document image at the position placed by thetranslated language character string positioning section; a storagesection that stores an image of a translated sentence-added documentevery time the image creating section creates an image of a translatedsentence-added document; a translated language character string changingarea extracting section that compares an image of a translatedsentence-added document last stored in the storage section With an imageof a translated sentence-added document stored previously thereto andextracts a translated language character string changing area indicatingan area in which the translated language character string is differentfrom the image of a translated sentence-added document last stored; anemphasized translated language character string creating section thatcreates an emphasized translated language character string byrecognizing a translated language character string included in thetranslated language character string changing area extracted by thetranslated language character string changing area extracting sectionand emphasizing the recognized translated language character string; anda display section that displays an image in which the emphasizedtranslate character string is superimposed on the translated languagecharacter string changing area of the image of a translatedsentence-added document last stored.